Learn how to use WOW Sound’s royalty-free game music. Understand prefixes, suffixes, loops, variations, and adaptive tracks to quickly find, implement, and optimize audio for your video games, YouTube videos, Twitch streams, or other creative projects.
WOW Sound Music Tutorial
Table of Contents
Prefix
Using Retro Nostalgia RPG Music Pack as an example:
- RNR_Town_Atarah_FULL_Loop
- RNR_Penguin_Harbour_FULL_Loop
The letters before the track is the prefix; in this case, it is RNR.
All music and sound effect tracks from the same music pack will have the same Prefix.We gave a unique prefix for each music pack so you can quickly search for music or sound effects on our site or your computer within the same music pack!
Suffix
Most Common
FULL = The main music track that has all instruments
Loop = Music can run continuously in a loop
They may sound like they end abruptly but it will make sense musically when looped
END = Music concludes with an ending
End Stinger (Packs from Mar 2020) = Stinger to end the Full Loop
Intro = Intro section leading to the Full Loop
‘Intro’ is meant to be triggered before the FULL Loop mixes and might not work as well with other mixes
Each music track usually has 2 ‘Suffix’
For eg. Full_Loop, Short_Loop, Lite_Loop, Full_End
- So RNR Town Atarah Lite Loop means the track is a Lite version and it’s loopable!
Other common suffix:
- Lite = A lighter version of the music with less instruments
- Short = Shorter length verison
- Medium = The in-between length of a short and full version
Length, Mixes & Instruments
LENGTH
- 30s = 30 seconds
- 60s = 60 seconds
- P1 / P2 = ‘P’ represents ‘Parts’ or Sections in music.
Part 1 refers to the 1st half while Part 2 to the 2nd half of the music.
MIXES
- Mel = Melody, the main melody of the music track
Examples of it → noMel (No Melody), noEthnicMel (No Ethnic Melody) - Alt = Alternate Version. These versions have various instruments being changed or have more sections and different melodies from the full version.
- Underscore = Additional music mix that quietly establishes a mood or theme in a visual scene or spoken dialogue.
- Amb / Ambient / Drone = Ambient or Drone music version with no persistent beats. This mix consists of gentle pads, holding strings, or any drone-like instrument giving a dreamy, soundscape texture. This mix works great to create or enhance a mood or atmosphere.
- Fast = A sped-up version, up by 10-20 bpm! Use them when running out of time, HP in the game or even for bonus time!
INSTRUMENTS:
- Pno / noPno = Piano, No piano versions
- Gt / noGT = Guitar / No guitar versions
- Vox / noVox = Main vocals / no main vocals version
- noWW = No woodwind instruments
- Dr = Drum
- Per = Percussion and Beats | Variations of it → noPer, LowPer, Short Per, including ethnic percussions.
Quick Tip
If the scene is busy with sound effects or dialogue, you can use a ‘lite’ version or a ‘noMel’ version so that the melody does not compete for attention. However, if the scene needs support from the music, you can use the ‘Full’ version. This way, you have an array of mixes to choose what fits best for your project!
⚠️ The mixes are not meant to play one after another to form a longer song.
Sections + Adaptive/Dynamic Music
SECTIONS
Part A/B/C = Form your own music structure with these parts. Loop each section as many times as you want before moving on to the next section!
Here’s an example from one of our tracks, Oriental Fever.
CDA_Oriental_Fever_Short_Part_A_Loop
CDA_Oriental_Fever_Short_Part_B_Loop
ADAPTIVE / DYNAMIC MUSIC
Adaptive music, also known as dynamic or interactive music, is pretty popular these days. Adaptive music means the music changes in volume, instrumentation, or rhythm in response to the events happening in the game. We only have one Adaptive music pack so far, our Electronic Action Music Pack! It’s really not easy to create adaptive music.
Each track comes in 3 different intensity levels.
- EA_Last_Bullet_HIGH_Loop
- EA_Last_Bullet_MED_Loop
- EA_Last_Bullet_LOW_Loop
To achieve this, the different layers of music are programmed to playback at the same time. And depending on the intensity of the game, the tracks are cross-faded between the high intensity, medium intensity, and low-intensity version.
To learn more about adaptive music, have a look at these links!
- The Dynamic Music of NieR: Automata (YouTube Link)
- Adaptive Music in FMOD Studio: 1 – Tracks and Tempo Markers (YouTube Link)
How to Check A Music Loop & File Format
To hear how a music loop sounds, drag it into this link and hit the play button!
(Remember to click the loop icon, it glows in yellow when it is switched on).
Please note that mp3 files will not loop seamlessly
Mp3 compression introduces silence gaps at the beginning.
Use .wav or .ogg files to loop your music tracks in game!
Wav format is the highest quality uncompressed audio file and the Ogg format is the go-to for most game developers!
Need to convert Wav files to Ogg files?
- Use this website to convert wav to ogg (free)!
- We use Switch (paid app) to convert our wavs to oggs.
Final Notes
If you are uploading your gameplay content or creating content on YouTube, please read the new section of YouTube’s terms of service called “Right to Monetize".
What layers have been useful or not useful for you? Or is there anything you would like to see more of? Feel free to drop us an email to [email protected] if you have any other feedback or suggestions!
Get a subscription plan to get full library access for unlimited projects!
